- Title: JORDAN: Spokesman says Syrian Prime Minister Hijab' s defection planned.
- Date: 6th August 2012
- Summary: AMMAN, JORDAN (AUGUST 6, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MOHAMMAD UTRI, SPOKESMAN OF DEFECTING SYRIAN PRIME MINSTER RIYAD HIJAB (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOHAMMAD UTRI, SPOKESMAN OF DEFECTING SYRIAN PRIME MINSTER RIYAD HIJAB SAYING SAYING: "Today we announced the defection of Riyad Hijab, the Syrian Prime Minister. Mr Riyad had a choice to be part of this criminal regime but he cho
- Embargoed: 21st August 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Jordan
- Country: Jordan
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVACLNVMV2V31D9QO8B49WR6NMOS
- Story Text: Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has defected to the opposition seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, a spokesman for Hijab said on Monday (August 6), marking one of the highest profile desertions from the Damascus government.
Syrian state television said Hijab had been fired, but an official source in the Jordanian capital Amman said he had been dismissed only after he fled across the border with his family.
"Today we announced the defection of Riyad Hijab, the Syrian prime minister. Mr Riyad had a choice to be part of this criminal regime but he chose to be among the Syrian people and their revolution. This defection did not come in one day, or yesterday, it had been planned for over two months, with the Free Syria Army and the rebels. Mr. Riyad Hijab is with his family and nine of his brothers and sisters in a safe place in a neighbouring country," said Hijab's spokesman Mohammad Utri.
"Mr Riyad Hijab has been out of sight in the last two days and when they (Syrian government) lost hope of finding him or killing him, they announced they had fired him, by this time he had reached a safe place and had announced his defection," he added.
A statement read in his name by a spokesman declaring his defection was broadcast earlier on Al Jazeera television.
Syrian state television reported Hijab's dismissal as government forces appeared to prepare a ground assault to clear battered rebels from Aleppo, the country's biggest city.
The opposition Syrian National Council said a further two ministers and three army generals had defected with Hijab. That assertion could not immediately be verified.
Hijab was a top official of the ruling Baath party but, like all other senior defectors so far from the government and armed forces, he was also a Sunni Muslim rather than a member of Assad's Alawite sect, which has long dominated the Syrian state.
Hijab's defection was one of the most high profile desertions from President Bashar al-Assad's political and military circles. On Sunday (August 5), al Arabiya television reported a senior Syrian intelligence officer had also defected to Jordan.
State television said Omar Ghalawanji, who was a deputy prime minister as well as minister for local administration, would lead a temporary caretaker government.
Assad had appointed Hijab, a former agriculture minister, as prime minister in June following a parliamentary election which came after more than a year of violent protests against Assad's rule. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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